POP BITES BACK AT BONO

Bono‘s prediction that the tide is turning against pop looks set to be blown out of the water this week, with the new singles chart set to be swamped by Spice Girls, Martine McCutcheon, RICKY MARTIN, STEPS and BAHA MEN hogging the Top Five.

The U2 frontman’s comments were made at a Radio 1 live recording and reported in the UK media this morning (October 24). He slated record companies who “ignore real talent in favour of pretty young things” and declared that people are “sick to the teeth of processed and hyped pop bands” and that they want “something real” again.

He continued: “The state of music in Britain and Ireland hasn’t been very healthy recently, but you can tell it’s changing by the chart position of pop acts – they are slipping. We went in a Number One, which surprised me. We were Number One in the singles chart and Radiohead Number One in the album chart. That tells me things are changing for the better. Fans are getting wiser. I mean, who are Steps?”

Currently, Steps are at Number Four with ‘Stomp’, while the Spice Girls are riding high in the top spot and have sold over 30,000 copies of ‘Holler/Let Love Lead The Way’ since it hit shops yesterday. Martine McCutcheon‘s ‘I’m Over You’ is Number Two according to sales so far, while Ricky Martin‘s ‘She Bangs’ is at Three. U2‘s former Number One ‘Beautiful Day’ has dropped to Number 10 and is currently the only rock single in the Top 10. Robbie And Kylie, Samantha Mumba, Sarah McLachlan and All Saints comprise the rest of the Top 10.

In the albums chart, however, Texas are top of the heap with their Greatest Hits compilation, with Limp Bizkit, Eminem, Coldplay, David Gray and veterans UB40 taking the pop edge away from Madonna and All Saints.